Legends of Ninjago Book 1: Brotherhood (Ninjago AU, Cole, Jay, Zane, Kai)

Chapter 11: The Frozen Wastelands

Zane was silent as he and the others rode along the earthy path. He was often silent. His thoughts were always with his friends back home, rarely with the people in front of him. Many different worries plagued him day and night, and he would only rest after this war was over.
Cole, Wu, and Ann had been very tense ever since the Caves of Despair, and he couldn't blame them. Up on the surface, Zane could tell that something had been wrong, as the ground had shaken several times. It was a miracle that Cole hadn't buried them alive.
As they went, swaying to and fro on their horses, Zane noticed that it was getting progressively colder. The day before, it had only reached about sixty degrees (15°C) and today it felt more like fifty-five degrees (12°C). They were headed toward the north-east coast of Ninjago; a coast which connected to the Kyodaina Ocean. The Frozen Wastelands were said to lie just beyond that, as cold and inhospitable as the name suggests. They were to rent a ship and sail to these wastelands where they would find the Daggers of Ice.
Truthfully, out of all the dangers they were going to face, Zane's biggest concern was the dragon guardian who was sure to be protecting these weapons. From what he understood, Cole had barely managed to defeat the earth dragon—without even realising how he had done it—which made it very difficult for Zane to plan accordingly. This would take a great deal of his powers to defeat.
"Did anyone pack extra jackets, or blankets?" Jay asked as a particularly cold wind rushed passed.
Ann ordered her horse forward until she was beside the luggage horse where she pulled out a large, black and blue coat. She tossed it to Jay before returning to her position at the back of the train. Ann also didn't say much most of the time. It was probably because of her time serving Sensei Wu, learning to become a ninja.
They had been traveling for several days now, slowly making their way north, but it was obvious that they were all getting restless; especially Kai, who was almost ready to join them in their exercises and in battle. Speaking of which, at that moment, Ann called the three of them to jog again, which was met by a very loud groan from Jay.
"If the dragons... don't kill me," Jay panted as they ran. "Then... this will!"
"Relax. You can't actually die from running," said Zane.
"Oh, I'm sure he'll find a way," Cole replied. That was the first light-hearted thing he'd said in a while.
"I'm... just not... cut out... for this," Jay went on. "You guys... you're like... the 'All Mights'... of this group. Me? I'm a Deku... a weak... noodle-armed—rock!" Jay squealed as one of his feet tripped over a stone and he fell down hard. Zane and Cole stopped to help him back up.
"Carry me, Cole," Jay begged.
"Yeah, that's a definite 'no'," Cole said simply. Jay groaned again.
"Boys, let's keep moving!" Ann called from up ahead.
The next day, they finally reached the north-eastern shore where they found an old fishing boat for rent. It was white and blue, and fairly beaten up, but it would do nicely. They left their horses with a nearby farmer and set a course for The Frozen Wastelands.
When they first left land, the weather was fair and the wind was pleasant, but Cole seemed a little nauseous. Kai didn't look much better, however Zane and the others managed to find their sea legs fairly quickly.
Ann, being the water elemental that she was, knew quite a lot about nautical facts and sailing, leaving her to do most of the work concerning the steering and map reading, while Keaton managed the sails.
Zane gazed out at the blue horizon and felt a chill ripple across his skin like goosebumps. He breathed in through his nose slowly and let the salty, grimy air sink in. For him, it was a comforting smell; the smell of home. Keaton slowly walked up beside him and leaned against the railing of the deck, her eyes lost in thought like his.
"Zane," she said after a while. "Do you... like your powers?" She turned to face him, but remained leaning on the railing.
It took Zane a moment to properly process her question. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean.... never mind," Keaton said quickly, and she turned back to the ocean.
"Well, it's just that I've never thought about it before," said Zane, moving forward to his little companion. "I've always had my powers... and I'd say that they have proven very useful and effective over the years... but somewhat hard to control at times."
"Hard to control?" Keaton asked curiously. She turned to face him again with wide eyes.
"Yes," Zane said simply. "It's difficult to explain... but... it feels like... like one of those waves down there. So big and powerful. Each time I set the ice free, it all wants to come out, and I have to make sure that it doesn't, because then I might hurt someone."
They were both quiet for a minute. Keaton didn't seem like her typical cheerful self at all, but Zane didn't ask her about it. Instead they both just enjoyed the view for a while. It was very nice to just be able to breathe and watch the water break upon the hull of the ship, and the seagulls fly overhead, until the fog bank rolled in. Soon, there wasn't much left to see, and Keaton left to go help her sister steer the ship. Zane stayed, though. He still had a lot to think about, like the fact that he was part of a secret group of elementals on a mission to save Ninjago. Of course he had always wondered if there were other people like him, somewhere in the world, but when Master Wu—Sensei Wu, now—came to him, this was the last thing he had anticipated.
Speaking of which, Zane still had not gotten the chance to ask Wu about how he knew his last name. He reasoned that since they would be in for a long voyage, now might be the best time to find him and ask.
Wu was below deck, drinking tea. When Zane entered the room, he looked up and smiled weakly.
"I was beginning to wonder when you'd come," Wu said. "Please, have a seat. Tea?"
"No thank you," Zane replied and he sat down. "I came to ask about the note you left for me." Wu raised an eyebrow. "You addressed it 'Zane Julien.' How is it you know my last name?"
Wu seemed a bit confused by this question and thought for a moment. "You did not know your own name?"
"No, " said Zane. "There is much I don't remember about my past. But you seem to."
Wu sipped his tea. "Not as much as you are hoping, young Zane. At one time, I knew your father, but that was many years ago, and I do not know his current whereabouts."
Zane's eyes were as wide as saucers. "What was his name?"
"Doctor—"
Suddenly, the ship lurched and both of them fell on their sides as the tea pot spilled all over the floor. Wu rose immediately and headed above deck. Zane followed him, and when he arrived, he found himself starring into the thickest, whitest fog that he had ever seen.
"We've hit something!" he heard Ann yell.
"Is the boat intact?"
"I think so."
Zane carefully made his way through the fog and over to the ship's railing, to see if he could find whatever it was that they had hit.
"It's impossible to see anything in this."
"Fog's only water, Ann. Can't you see in it?"
"There are water particles all around us, but they're scattered and fuzzy. I can only kind of make out a few things if I sense them in time."
Zane leaned over the rail, but he still couldn't see anything. He followed the metal bar around the ship's deck until he suddenly stopped. There was something down there, he knew it, he just couldn't figure out what.
"Yikes! It's freezing out here!" Jay cried.
That's when it clicked.
"It's ice!" Zane called to everyone.
"What?"
"We've hit a small chunk of ice in the water!" Zane clarified.
"That's impossible," said Ann. "We can't be that close to the Wastelands yet."
"I'd trust the Master of Ice on this one," Cole said.
"As would I," Wu joined in. "Zane? Can you detect the ice in the water?"
He glanced down for a moment. "Yes, I should be able to."
"Then we'll have work together," Ann called. "I'll steer, you tell me where to go."
"You mean, after we dislodge the ice that's currently underneath us?" Jay asked.
"Don't worry, I'm on it," Zane replied. He turned toward where he felt the ice was and reached out to it. With a sort of pushing motion, he shoved the chunk away from them, causing the ship to rock a bit more.
Ann started up the engine again and they continued slowly on. Zane would reach out with his powers and warn Ann of any oncoming icebergs, and she would steer away from them. This continued on for the next hour.
By the following hour, everyone except for Zane, Ann, and Keaton were below deck, trying to keep warm. The temperature around them had to be at least fourteen degrees (-10°C), and everyone was bundled up tightly.
"Starboard!" Zane shouted, sensing a large iceberg in the water. He heard Ann grunt as she wrestled with the steering wheel, and the whole ship slowly leaned to one side.
"How will we know when we're there?" Keaton asked from somewhere in the fog.
"S-sensei Wu s-said-d, 'look f-for the sil-l-v-ver eye,'" said Ann, through chattering teeth.
"Port! Port!" Zane cried suddenly. The ice was becoming more numerous and he had barely sensed that in time. When Ann turned the boat, it was so sudden that Zane would have completely fallen over if her hadn't caught himself on the railing. Then there was an ear splitting SCREEEEEEECH noise that sounded like a cheese grater on a chalk board.
"Was that the ice?!" Keaton shouted.
"Yes. B-but let's hop-pe that it d-d-didn't tear the ship open." Ann sounded like she could really use some time below deck.
"What kind of silver eye was Sensei Wu referring to?" Zane asked.
"I d-don't know," Ann answered. "But we m-m-must be getting c-close."
Zane scanned the soup-like fog, looking for any signs of "silver eyes" or land, but it was impossible to see through the mist. Then, all of a sudden, the fog started disappearing; rolling back over the ship. They must have been exiting the fog bank.
Now they all had a very clear idea of where they were, and it was both beautiful, and terrifying. Hundreds of pinnacle and windswept ice bergs surrounded them, in all shades of white and blue. They could only see a half-a-dozen-or-so yards ahead, however, as a thin layer of fog still surrounded them.
"See anything?" Keaton asked.
"Just a lot of ice," said Zane.
Then Zane heard the hatch open.
"What happened?" Jay asked.
"Yeah, what was that noise?" Cole joined in. He, Kai, Jay, and Master Wu came up onto the deck, all shivering.
"We scraped an iceberg," Zane explained. "So far as we know, it didn't do any extensive damage."
"Aw, great! This thing's gonna sink, now, isn't it?" Jay wailed. "And that means we're all gonna get hypothermia and die here in the frozen armpit of nowhere!"
"C-calm down, J-Jay," Kai stuttered.
"Indeed," said Wu. "To every problem, there is a solution, and for the moment, I would say that the ship is holding up fine. Now, have you found the..."
A noise in the distance cut him off. Everyone heard it, and stopped what they were doing immediately to listen. It sounded like a high pitched wail of some sort, almost like an actual whale, but different. It would last for about two or three seconds and then stop, only to resume again a short while later.
"There's something out there," Zane breathed.
"Oh no, you don't think...?" Jay asked, glancing at Cole.
"Look!" Keaton yelled. She was pointing to the port side of the boat where just within sight there was another ship, a ship that was filled to the brim with Skulkens. It looked as cursed as the soldiers themselves, painted black with rotting sails and ropes that normally wouldn't be able to work at all, but were clearly paranormal.
"Look out!" Kai screamed as the Skulkens fired a cannon ball straight at them. It hit the side of the ship with such intensity that it bent the railing and sent chunks of wood flying through the air. Everyone had dropped to their stomachs just in time, and thankfully, none of them were injured.
Zane lifted his head and tried to find the ship again, but it had been swallowed by the mist.
"Where did they go?" Cole asked as he stood.
"It's impossible to tell," said Ann. "Zane, I n-need you looking for icebergs."
He nodded in her direction and went to the bow of the ship as she had instructed, however this time he was also keeping his eyes peeled for the Skulkens.
"What do we do?" Zane heard Jay ask.
"There is only so much we can do," Wu replied. "The ice and fog should provide us with sufficient cover for now, but we will have to face them again, doubtless. When we do, you must be prepared to defend the ship with your powers."
As the tension rose, so did the number of ice bergs and growlers (small chunks of ice). It was becoming increasingly difficult for Ann to steer the ship through the treacherous obstacle course, and soon they came to a complete dead-end.
"Well, that's just g-great!" Kai yelled. "Now what?"
"We continue on foot," said Wu.
"Are you insane?" Kai challenged. His face looked almost purple from the cold, and he was clearly in a bad mood. "It's f-freezing! W-we p-p-probably won't ev-ven be able to find our w-way b-b-back!"
"I can leave ice markers behind us," Zane said.
"There, problem solved," said Cole as he began to move forward. "We'll be fine if we hurry."  Jay and the others began to follow, but Zane was sure that he heard Kai mutter, "A-am I the only one here with any c-common sense?"
They leapt over the hull of the ship and landed on the snow-covered ice with quiet "thuds." Before them was an endless mass of pure white, above and below. It was also deathly silent; not a sound was to be heard except for their own breathing and footsteps.
"You know, we'd have a much e-easier time finding this 'silver eye' if t-there wasn't s-so much f-fog," Jay mentioned after a while.
"No duh," Kai snapped.
"Kai, calm down," Cole replied.
"Calm down?" Kai repeated, storming up to him. "Calm down?! We're out here in the middle of a frozen wasteland with n-no idea where we're going, m-meanwhile, there's a horde of Skulkens out there searching for us! And you want me t-to calm down?!"
"Kai! Stop this at once!" said Master Wu sternly. "If you give in to feelings of rage and despair, then you will lose your way. You must have patience!" Kai scowled at the old man, but said nothing. "We will find the Daggers of Ice soon enough, but Jay does make an excellent point. Ann, would you—"
"Ooooooohaaaarrrr....."
Everybody seemed to be holding their breath at once, and Zane began to look around quickly. That had sounded much nearer that it had last time, but it was impossible to tell from which direction it came as it bounced around all of the ice. Then a bone-chilling wind rushed passed them, bringing with it more fog and snow.
"Stay close together!" Wu ordered. "Ann, clear away the fog."
She nodded and without a second of delay, she pushed forward with her hands and the fog relented. Another gust of wind shot passed them, and the fog returned, perhaps even thicker than it had been before. Ann didn't move at first, and then tried again, but the exact same thing happened.
"It's impossible. It j-just keeps c-coming back-k," she said, somewhat defeated.
"Oooooohaarooooaaaarrrr!"
"Is that the dragon?" Zane asked nervously.
"I dunno," said Cole. "The earth dragon sounded different."
Zane was scanning the area for any hints as to the origin of the noise, but the fog kept everything well hidden.
A feeling pinged in his chest and made him stop moving entirely. I was like he had just swallowed an ice cube whole, and it felt very familiar. So familiar that he could almost make out its meaning, but no sooner had it arrived when he heard a loud scuffling noise, followed by the sound of Kai screaming, and then silence.
Zane whipped around only to find more empty whiteness.
"Kai? Sensei Wu?" he called out, fearing the worst.
"We're hear," said Jay. "W-where are y-you?"
"Exactly where I was a few seconds ago," Zane replied. "Kai? Are you all right?" There was no answer. "Kai?"
"He's gone!" Keaton shrieked.
"The ice dragon must be here! Be on guard!" Wu warned. "We must find the eye quickly."
The first thing Zane thought to do was reach out with his powers to find the beast, but the only thing he could sense was the ice all around him. Then that feeling pinged again, and he cried, "Look out!" but the scuffling sound came, Jay cried out, and then the silence returned. "This dragon relies on ambush attacks! Find cover!"
The next moment was filled with the sound of many feet scrambling over the ice, until everyone had either stopped, or was so far away the they could no longer be heard. Zane managed to find a sort of ice cave and hid himself as deeply as the shallow indent would allow. Now he needed to think up a plan of attack.
The dragon easily had a size advantage over him, and probably a power advantage as well, but it relied heavily on the cover of the fog, which must mean that it wasn't strong enough to take them head on. All he needed to do was find out how to track it in the mist, then strike.
Zane placed a hand on the frozen ground and reached out. Across from him, hiding in similar positions, were Ann, Keaton, Cole, and Wu. There was a tall wall of ice behind them, and another behind himself, making the open area between them a perfect valley. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't sense the presence of another creature. The only life nearby, warming the ice, was the others and himse—wait... was he generating heat? As he scanned over his body, he found that his own presence didn't register as a living thing, since it wasn't effecting the ice beneath him. He was invisible even to himself. Logically this was because of his powers, but then it dawned on him that this dragon was likely the same way. He couldn't be looking for signs of heat, he needed to be looking for movement.
"Oooooorrrrraaarrrrrr....."
The wind picked up again, sending the falling snow hurling towards the ground, so fast that it was likely to become a blizzard soon. How was he supposed to detect movement with all of that going on? There was only one thing he could do: he had some sort of early warning system that alerted him of the dragon's approach, so all he needed to do was offer himself up as bait, then when the creature came to strike, he would sense it approaching and take it down.
He rose from his seat and barrelled through the wind and snow, covering his face with his hood as much as possible.
"Come and get me, you brute!" he called out.
"Zane, what are you doing?" Cole cried.
He breathed in and out, waiting and waiting and waiting. The snow whirled around his face and bit at his nose, and the silence wore on for an eternity. Then the feeling pinged in his chest, and when the scuffling sound began, Zane was prepared. He instantly shot out long spears of ice, to which the dragon responded with a very loud, "Aaaaarrrooooorrrr!"
There was a split second when he thought he saw it moving in the mist, but it was impossible to tell how much damage he had inflicted.
Then there was silence.